Lucy's Got Game
by bacchus in vines
Summary: Lucy has sex appeal and she's not afraid to use it. (pre-NaLu one shot / drabble)


_Disclaimer: Don't own FT or any of the characters contained within._

Lucy's got game. She loves nothing more than flaunting her sex appeal for discounts, reveling in the power she gets from a bat of the eyes and a sly smile. A well-timed wink can hold as much power as one of Natsu's fiery punches in her capable flirtations. This power is one she mastered even before she left the manse, one that helped her make the leap to freedom and one she keeps just in case.

So it takes Lucy a while to notice that her sex appeal isn't working quite the way it used to.

One day she's smiling and laughing with the cute store keeper, trying to get a much needed discount on supplies. The man laughs and leans closer and agrees to knock off a few thousand jewels and then his hand is on her back and sliding down further as he asks what she's doing later. She's about to reply when she sees Natsu and Happy dancing on the counter-top right in front of her, lines of jewels draped over their heads and lips pursed and eyes bugging into their mischievous faces. Everyone bursts out laughing and she moves forward to scold them, everything else long forgotten.

Then there is the team of friendly mages from Blue Pegasus that they run into in the hotel bar after a funny little mission. Team Natsu shares the table, swapping war stories and getting progressively tipsier and rowdier as the night progresses. Lucy noticed the one with the glasses and the brilliant grin has been giving her the side eye all night, and he finally gets up the courage to separate her from the pack and talk just the two of them. Lucy doesn't mind a little flirtation with someone who can smile like that, and is debating just how far she wants things to go when she feels a warm arm around her shoulders. Natsu grins conspiratorially and huddles them down as buddies in his warm embrace, whispering about the prank he's planning to pull on the rest of the team. Lucy whispers back and is so involved in mischief she barely notices that the boy wonder doesn't try to get to know her better for the rest of the night because Natsu's made yet another friend for life.

One of the boatmen, the cute young one who just started, has been asking for her autograph. He offers to take her on a free boat ride, and so the two of them glide in the gondola down the canals of Magnolia. He takes her to a secluded hamlet surrounded by trees. The chirping crickets and the setting sun provides them with a most suitable romantic setting for a little hanky panky. And they're chatting intimately about lost childhoods and hopes for the future, and Lucy's wondering where this should be going when the soft tapping they had heard in the background turns into the heavier thump thump thumping of a body in the woods.

And there is Natsu bumping through the woods and the air behind a massive flying fish, holding on to the fishing hook for dear life as Happy flies behind cheering him on. Natsu uses the river bank to propel himself above the fish, landing on the flying poisson like a horse and literally riding it into the middle of he boat.

The boatman flies in one direction and Lucy flies in another in an effort to avoid the giant fish. Happy wraps the line around the neck of the fish and cackles about the size of his catch while Natsu just looks sick. Lucy's about to scream and yell when she realizes it just isn't worth it, and she and the boat man are dragging the helpless dragonslayer to shore (Natsu throws up on Lucy and almost on the boatman) and laughing and when Natsu is finally better he invites them back to the fire-pit to enjoy the rest of the day's catch and to make it up to them. Natsu redeems himself by accidentally complimenting Lucy and revealing more of her intimate life than she'd like (and Happy smirks and interferes as usual). The boatman never calls back but Lucy finds that she doesn't really mind.

It takes Lucy a long time to realize that she doesn't have game like she used to, that her sex appeal is a tool she now wields as a precise instrument for a quick discount instead of the blunt object it once was. When she's with Team Natsu, it feels less and less necessary. To be honest, she barely notices her apparent lack of game now that she is always surrounded by her coercive and silly friends. One of the fire breather's blunt comments or stupid jokes is all it takes to distract her. Even at night, she barely has time to lament before she passes out, exhausted after a day full of adventures, the mattress dipping slightly as Natsu and Happy lay beside her.

Everything Natsu does draws her deeper into his orbit – she never has more fun than when she is with him.

* * *

**A/N: Would Natsu get jealous of Lucy's sex appeal and all of her admirers? His element is fire, so it's easy to give him all of the fiery attributes – quick temper, super jealous, all that good stuff. And while he is super competitive, quick to anger and he loves to fight, he is also one of Fairy Tail's most genial members. So maybe he'd get jealous over Lucy – but I don't think he's ever felt threatened enough to do so. He's weird enough to ruin any attempts without violence (or doing it deliberately?) – just by being silly and fun and friendly and leaving Lucy with no other option than to keep him as one of her favourite people in all of the worlds.**

This was my attempt to demonstrate this relationship without crack.


End file.
